Agricultural storage containers are used for storing agricultural products and for transporting the agricultural products, such as produce or other food stuff, from a field to a processing location. Conventional wood agricultural storage boxes are constructed of four wood side panels that are bolted, screwed, or otherwise fastened together and fastened to a wood base. Although the wood storage boxes hold large volumes of agricultural products, the storage boxes require a large amount of storage space when not in use. Some of the wood storage boxes can be disassembled by unscrewing or unbolting many fasteners to separate the side panels from each other and from the base, but such disassembly is very time consuming, labor intensive, and accordingly, uneconomical.
Other conventional storage containers used in the agricultural industry are one-piece, molded, plastic containers that have the four sides integrally connected to each other and to a base. The one-piece plastic containers cannot be disassembled, and they are stored by stacking them horizontally and vertically in a selected storage area. However, such storage of one-piece plastic containers does not efficiently use storage space.
In most situations, time and storage space is at a premium, and it is highly desirable to have storage containers that can be easily and quickly disassembled when not in use and reassembled for holding products. A disassembled storage container used for storing or transporting produce is approximately one-sixth the size of the assembled storage container, thereby substantially minimizing the space required for storing the storage container. It is also highly desirable to have a storage container that can be transported while disassembled and then quickly assembled in the field or other remote location just before the container is to be filled.
A further drawback suffered by conventional agricultural storage containers occurs in vertical stacking of the containers, whether they are empty or full of products. The storage containers typically have substantially flat bottom panels with the same dimensions as the top of the containers, and when stacked vertically, the bottom panel of an upper container is positioned atop the sidewalls of a lower container. The storage containers must be carefully stacked and aligned to ensure for a steady vertical stack. To ensure that misalignment of the storage containers does not occur, the storage containers must be stacked relatively slowly and carefully, thereby resulting in a time-consuming and expensive stacking procedure.